DMK veteran Durai Murugan named in Rs 1,427 crore sand mining corruption case

Tamil Nadu’s Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has booked senior DMK leader and former water resources minister Durai Murugan over alleged irregularities in sand mining between 2021 and 2024.The agency searched 34 locations across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Friday in connection with the case.The complaints cover 28 river sand quarries and allege a loss of Rs 1,427.34 crore to the state exchequer from four of them alone.Retired engineers-in-chief A Muthaiya and Ramamoorthi, 14 Water Resources Department officials, 10 private individuals or firms, and others have also been named in the case. CONTRACTS, EXCESS MINING UNDER SCANNERAccording to the DVAC, the alleged irregularities took place during the previous DMK government’s tenure.The complaints allege that contracts were awarded through limited tenders instead of open tenders, sand was mined beyond approved plans, and forged permit slips were used to transport it illegally. The agency registered the case following complaints from the Enforcement Directorate’s Chennai office, S Tamilselvan and Arappor Iyakkam convener Jayaram Venkatesan.The searches covered Chennai, Pudukkottai, Trichy, Karur, Vellore, Madurai, Dindigul, Sivagangai, Coimbatore, Salem, Namakkal and Puducherry.Investigators seized 825 documents described by the DVAC as incriminating, 11 electronic gadgets and three bank locker keys.WHO IS DURAI MURUGAN?Durai Murugan, the DMK’s general secretary, is one of the party’s longest-serving leaders. A lawyer by training, he entered the Tamil Nadu Assembly from Katpadi in 1971.By 2021, he had won 10 Assembly elections, eight from Katpadi and two from Ranipet. He lost the 2026 election to a TVK candidate.A close associate of former chief minister M Karunanidhi, he remained a key figure under MK Stalin. In 2021, Stalin described him as a guide in party affairs following the deaths of Karunanidhi and former general secretary K Anbazhagan.Durai Murugan held several ministerial portfolios, including public works under Karunanidhi and water resources in the Stalin-led government.- Ends